SiteOne Landscape Supply, Roswell, Ga., reported a first-quarter loss of $17 million ($0.43 per diluted share) on net sales of $371.4 million, down from the year-ago loss of $10.5 million ($0.26 per share) and $335 million, respectively. The company said unfavorable weather patterns in March partially offset sales growth in fertilizer, controls, and nursery.
The company had an operating loss of $20.6 million, down from the year-ago loss of $11.9 million. Adjusted EBITDA was a negative $5.1 million, down from a year-ago positive $1.2 million.
“Our first-quarter results reflect a late start to the spring season this year, which delayed business during our seasonally slowest and traditionally loss-making quarter,” said Doug Black, SiteOne chairman and CEO. “The quarter also included the opening of our two strategic distribution centers in California and Pennsylvania, completing our major supply chain investments. Given these factors, we are pleased with our overall 11 percent net sales growth in the quarter and with the underlying market trends that we see developing for the year.
“We continue to expect good organic growth and EBITDA margin expansion in 2018 driven by our strong teams and by the execution of our commercial and operational initiatives. We are also off to a great start with four acquisitions year to date and a healthy level of activity to support more acquisitions during the remainder of the year,” said Black.
For the year, SiteOne continues to expect an adjusted EBITDA of $180-$192 million.
In other news, SiteOne said in March it launched the pilot of its new eCommerce platform, the new siteone.com. It will allow customers to order product and schedule pickup and delivery online. The company has been developing the platform over the past 18 months, and is currently live in select test markets. It expects to do a country-wide roll-out in second-half 2018.